On June 26, 2024, only hours after dropping Game 3 of the College World Series final, then-Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle signed with the Texas Longhorns. This betrayal, combined with decades of hate between rivals, culminated in what was one of the most heated series of the 2025 college baseball season.
Now, 10 months later, A&M baseball was swept in the Lone Star Showdown against its former coach and No. 1 Texas, losing all three games by one run. The Aggies fell to the Longhorns 6-5 on Sunday, sending the Maroon and White back home with three losses in their luggage.
“Every pitch matters,” sophomore right fielder Caden Sorrell said. “ … I mean, it hurts. You know, we’re so close. We played good, but not good enough this time.”
Even with a record 23,680 fans in attendance over the three-game series, scoring was scarce in this rendition of the Lone Star Showdown. But that didn’t stop the Fightin’ Farmers from starting Game 3 red hot.
With two men on, Sorrell got the scoring proceedings underway with an RBI double in the top of the first. Sophomore catcher Bear Harrison followed suit with an RBI single to give A&M a 2-0 lead.
After giving up the early lead and walking four Aggies, Texas’ starting freshman right-handed pitcher Jason Flores was pulled in the top of the second. Stepping in for the Longhorns was senior RHP Andre Duplantier II, who made his 87th appearance in Burnt Orange, the eighth most in program history. The Summer Creek product proceeded to sit down the next six A&M batters.
Holding things down on the mound for the Aggies was LHP Myles Patton, who recorded a pair of 1-2-3 innings before Texas joined in on the scoring festivities with a four-hit inning in the bottom of the third, tying things up 2-2.
A&M immediately answered back in the top of the fourth, retaking the lead thanks to a two-run double from senior third baseman Wyatt Henseler. The former Penn Quaker gave the Aggies their second lead of the afternoon and the most runs scored yet in the series as A&M led, 4-2.
One factor keeping the Aggies ahead was spectacular plays in the outfield all afternoon, beginning with Sorrell’s full-extension diving catch in the fourth.
“Ran as hard as I could … got a good read on it, got a good jump,” Sorrell said.
Freshman left fielder Terrence Kiel II was not to be outmatched with a diving catch of his own that saw the Atlanta native stay on the ground, wincing in pain. Completing the fielding masterclass was junior center fielder Jace LaViolette, who made an impressive leaping grab against the fence in the bottom of the sixth.
However, this was the beginning of the end for the Maroon and White, as Patton had his day come to a close in the sixth following a wild pitch that allowed the Longhorns to inch closer, 5-4.
Sophomore RHP Weston Moss was brought in after only making a brief appearance in Friday’s 2-1 loss. However, he failed to wrangle the Longhorns, loading the bases on walks before being pulled for sophomore RHP Luke Jackson.
“Moss just had one of those games he hasn’t had all year,” coach Michael Earley said. “He didn’t have his stuff …. I’m gonna continue to go right to him. He just had a bad one.”
Texas proceeded to take its first lead of the day following a two-RBI single from junior C Rylan Galvan. Now trailing 5-4, if A&M wanted to get out of Austin with a win, it would need its bullpen to clutch up and situational hitting to heat up.
In this game of cat and mouse — or rather Aggies and Longhorns — A&M answered right back. Sorrell spanked the ball 414 feet over the center field wall, tying the game at 5-5 with A&M’s first home run at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
But big brother hit back, as former A&M commit freshman LF Adrian Rodriquez hit a solo shot of his own over the left field wall on the very first pitch he saw from freshman LHP Caden McCoy.
Down 6-5, the Aggies were just two outs away from getting swept by not only their most hated rival but also their former coach. Then, with the heartbeats of every single one of the 7,930 fans awaiting the next pitch, the Longhorns turned two on junior short stop Kaden Kent, who went a combined 0-11 over the course of the series in Austin.
With the 6-5 loss, the Aggies drop to 24-19 and 9-13 in the Southeastern Conference. As A&M’s dreams of making the post season take a huge blow, eyes now shift to its next game against the Lamar Cardinals on Tuesday, April 29, at Olsen Field.
“We’ve been knocked to the mat before, and we’re going to continue to get back up,” Earley said. “So as tough as that is, especially playing here, we got to move on.”
